Cut Copy

Zonoscope

Modular Recordings

Cut Copy reminds me of the pre-Internet days, when a band’s merits were based solely on the power of the pop song. Listeners didn’t care what they looked like, what music scene they were part of, or if their album wasn’t getting good reviews on whatever music blog was trendy that week. If the song was good, it was good — end of story. Cut Copy’s music belongs alongside those danceable, hummable hits of the ’80s, next to the likes of New Order and Erasure.

What they began with on 2004’s Bright Like Neon Love and excelled at with 2008’s In Ghost Colors, they enrich with Zonoscope. It’s pop music for people who don’t want to admit to liking pop music.

“Need You Now” and “Take Me Now,” the two introductory tracks to the record, display these traits in spades. The former could be a missing Echo & the Bunnymen B-side, and the latter has got a groovy disco riff running through a Franz Ferdinand melody. These two songs are so addictive, I can hardly get on to the rest of the album — I just keep hitting “repeat.”

Once I do move on, I find myself basking in a monumental groove that sits somewhere in-between MGMT and the Who. “Where I’m Going,” the lead-off teaser single that was released six months ago, is a slow burner. It may take a few listens, but will soon become a fan favorite.

With only a few stumbles, the Australian group’s third full-length release plays on to electro dance pop glory. Dancefloor dominating “Pharaohs and Pyramids,” the Asian-influenced percussive beats that drive “Blink and You’ll Miss a Revolution,” and the romantic swoon of “Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat” are a triad of highs. Even the 15-minute masturbatory mind meld trancey closer “Sun God” is quite tantalizing. The band goes bold on this record, experimenting with sounds and instruments on a grander scale than past productions.

Cut Copy has found the bridge between the Top 40 fun of the past and the ever-shifting tastes of the Internet age present, and I, for one, am fully on board for any ride they wanna take us on.